The Centre for Theology and Public Issues at Otago University is delighted to announce that Jim Wallis, founder and CEO of the Sojourners Community in Washington DC, will be in Dunedin on Tuesday 28 September. He will be keynote speaker at a conference on ‘Faith, Ethics and Public Life’ that afternoon, and deliver the Howard Paterson Memorial Lecture in Public Theology. The venue is First Church, Moray Place. Full information about this event can be found at www.otago.ac.nz/jimwallis, and tickets for the full  conference, priced at $20 ($15 students, beneficiaries & U-16s) can be booked online at this address.

The ticket price includes afternoon tea, coffee and home-style refreshments. May I encourage you to book early, as the event is being advertised across the South Island and we are expecting tickets to go quickly

Jim Wallis is a leading author, speaker and international commentator on faith and public life, and one of President Obama’s advisers on religious and ethical issues. He has written ten books, the most well-known of which, ‘God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It’, helped change the US political landscape and was on the New York Times bestseller list for four months. He is in high demand internationally as a speaker, and this conference in Dunedin – his only speaking engagement on the South Island – will be a rare opportunity for us to hear him in person.

The Howard Paterson Lecture, like all University Open Lectures, is open to all, but if space is tight, priority will be given to people booking for the whole conference.

There is a special e-mail address for enquiries relating to this event: jimwallis.event@otago.ac.nz (phone enquiries: 03 479 8450). If you would like to attend this event but have no way of accessing the internet, please call this number or write to the Centre for Theology and Public Issues, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin 9054.

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hese were words of judgement for people who were able to recognise the signs of nature, but who failed to recognise the signs of Jesus who had been working in their very midst. The point here is the meaning people associate with the events of their life and how they might respond to them. As a city, it seems to me that there are growing signs of our lack of significance or perhaps success in various spheres. Yes, we have a new state-of-the-art sports stadium being built, but many of our sports teams are languishing far behind other provinces. We don’t seem to be the leading force we once were in high-profile codes such as rugby, netball and soccer. We also seem to be overlooked more and more as a major destination on the main flight routes of airline companies and there are further fears of losing neurosurgery services and the ownership of Port Chalmers to the Canterbury region. I’m sure there would be increasing concerns if particular areas of Otago

University were to be relocated elsewhere in the country. We have a binge drinking culture that is increasingly getting harder to handle and now the alarming issue of suicide is beginning to make us pay attention. It’s obviously not all doom and gloom here in Dunedin and alarm bells shouldn’t be ringing just yet. But, how might we interpret some of the signs we are seeing already? What do we make of these seemingly depressing and declining situations in terms of our future as a city and province? These are not easy questions to answer and any response may be complex. However we may interpret these challenges events, I believe that any response is one that seeks a positive or better outcome; that looks for a spark of hope. Jesus’ words encourage us to recognise and respond not only to the signs on the political,economic or social horizon, but the spiritual as well. Do we recognise the signs of what God is doing in our midst; even in the smallest of ways; even in the most desperate of situations? Or does our understanding of God’s work, as a church, merely get confined to a procedural and financial or structural framework in church life? I think we too need to look for sparks of hope and inspiration in every area of our life together, but it requires a shift in our thinking. It requires us to take a hopeful and optimistic approach from seeing the glass half-empty to one that is half-full. We may look at the negative situations that arise around us and narrowly interpret them as God’s judgement upon people. Or we can widen the scope and see them as opportunities to bring hope to people who seem to have none. We are encouraged to be motivated positively from a fear of losing to a desire for winning. As we consider our future as First Church of Otago, we need to do so with a sense of hope that God is still at work in us and through us to others. Although our membership has experienced decline for various reasons over the past decades, there are still people making decisions to forge new connections with First Church as well deciding to make it their spiritual home. Our mission is to recognise and be involved with what God is doing. God is  at work in people’s lives; even in the most desperate of times, and we can be part of something that helps to bring about hope for them. I believe it eventually brings hope for us as a church because sharing good news with others means that we are also part of it. So recognise the signs of mission opportunities and be a bearer of hope in our city.

First Church stands in the middle of the city, surrounded by shops, offices, businesses and apartments, and it offers a different space, a quiet place, an oasis in the city.  Many people enjoy lunch or some time out on the lawn (on a fine day). Many people visit the church to admire its architecture and its history.

But we know that First Church is primarily a place of worship, a house of prayer. And we know that many people work and live in the immediate neighbourhood. And we think that some of them would appreciate an opportunity to pause briefly in the middle of their working day, to be quiet, to stop rushing, to rest and pray.

“Then they were glad because they had quiet

 and he brought them to their desired haven.”

Psalm 107:30 (NRSV)

Sound –

waves breaking, birds singing, bagpipes, rain, psalm-singing and sea shanty,

voices telling a story, our story,

story of people who came so far, so full of hope and faith, so full of courage and longing, our people,

story of building, building this city, building this place, our place.

Light –

colours playing on walls and pipes and window and arch, on table and pulpit,

colours transforming the outside as well,

lights spotlighting voices speaking, voices singing.

Sound and light – son et lumiere

a gift to the city, a gift to the 800 who came to be part of it, a gift to us.

Our thanks to all who brought this wonder into being:

to Peter Matheson, who dreamed it,

to the Knox Centre for Ministry and Leadership, who turned dream into happening,

to Richard Huber who wrote the script

to Martyn Roberts who let there be light,

to actors and singers and stagehands and lighting crew who brought it to life,

to Malcolm West and Ian Mitchell and John Sinclair who were our people on the spot, hosts and gofers and liaison and problem-solvers.